Luggage items may be used to contain, safeguard and protect personal belongings, appurtenances or paraphernalia by way of bundling goods within compartment boundaries in their inside. A challenge with luggage items is the association and concomitant dynamic allocation to its owner, particularly during travel modes where a temporary separation of travelling owner and luggage items is desired or even mandatory, such as airbound travel.
Conventionally, paper tags are used to label luggage items temporarily, enabling personnel charged with handling luggage items during travel to re-associate the luggage items to their respective owners. In recent years, RFID solutions have been used to improve the identification and allocation procedures of luggage items, in particular in the handling processes at airports to assure in-time delivery and routing.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,476,718 B1 discloses a traceable luggage system for luggage bags comprising a microchip tagged to the luggage bag for uniquely identifying the luggage bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,535,358 B2 discloses an electronic luggage for GPS tracking luggage and monitoring the state of the luggage.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,626,505 B2 discloses an RF tag attachable to travel bags for locating and tracking the travel bag during its shipment by providing owner's identification, destination and similar pedigree information about the travel bag.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2012/0098642 A1 discloses a battery less luggage tag having UHF and RFID capabilities and a bi-state display.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0303637 A1 discloses an electronic-ink based RFID tag for attachment to a consumer item having graphical indicia.
The document GB 2459288 B discloses a suitcase fitted with an electronic device in an outer compartment of the suitcase.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2010/0325060 A1 discloses an electronic baggage tracking device having a display displaying destination indicia of the tracked piece of baggage.
Splitting of travelling routes of a travelling person and their respective luggage items may result in improved travel organization and efficiency. Especially for luggage items there is an increasing need for the luggage item itself to be able to “communicate” with its surroundings and to influence its own handling processes in order to optimize the transportation of the luggage item by transportation service providers.
In addition, other objects, desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.